He said, nor needed more to say: with haste Solicit every gale to meet the foe. Nor did th' encourag'd Belgians long delay, Our little fleet was now engag'd so far, That like the sword-fish in the whale they fought: The combat only seem'd a civil war, Till through their bowels we wrought: Never had valour, no not ours, before our passage Done aught like this upon the land or main, Where not to be o'ercome was to do more Than all the conquests former kings did gain. The mighty ghosts of our great Harries rose, By which Fate promis'd them their Charles should rise. Meantime the Belgians tack upon our rear, Close by, their fire-ships, like jackals, appear, Silent, in smoke of cannon they come on: Sometimes from fighting squadrons of each fleet, Deceiv'd themselves, or to preserve some friend, Two grappling Etnas on the ocean meet, And English fires with Belgian flames contend. Now at each tack our little fleet grows less; [main: And, like maim'd fowl, swim lagging on the Their greater loss their numbers scarce confess, While they lose cheaper than the English gain, Have you not seen, when, whistled from the fist, Some falcon stoops at what her eye design'd, And with her eagerness the quarry miss'd, Straight flies at check, and clips it down the wind? The dastard crow, that to the wood made wing, Among the Dutch thus Albemarle did fare : Yet pity did his manly spirit move, To see those perish who so well had fought: And generously with his despair he strove, Resolv'd to live till he their safety wrought. Let other Muses write his prosperous fate, Of conquer'd nations tell, and kings restor❜d: But mine shall sing of his eclips'd estate, Which, like the Sun's, more wonders does afford. He drew his mighty frigates all before, On which the foe his fruitless force employs: His fiery cannon did their passage guide, Elsewhere the Belgian force we did defeat, Which first the Asian empire overthrew. The foe approach'd; and one for his bold sin This seen, the rest at awful distance stood : So Libyan huntsmen, on some sandy plain, And slowly moves, unknowing to give place. But if some one approach to dare his force, And with the other tears him to the ground. Amidst these toils succeeds the balmy night; Now hissing waters the quench'd guns restore; And weary waves withdrawing from the fight, Lie lull'd and panting on the silent shore. The Moon shone clear on the becalmed flood, Where, while her beams like glittering silver play, Upon the deck our careful general stood, And deeply mus'd on the succeeding day. "That happy Sun," said he, " will rise again, And I alone must view him rise in vain, "Yet, like an English general will I die, The sea's a tomb that 's proper for the brave." Restless he pass'd the remnant of the night, Till the fresh air proclaim'd the morning nigh: But now, his stores of ammunition spent, Thus far had Fortune power, he forc'd to stay, For all the glories of so great a life. For now brave Rupert from afar appears, The anxious prince had heard the cannon long, Then, as an eagle, who with pious care Was beating widely on the wing for prey, To her now silent eiry does repair, And finds her callow infants forc'd away : Stung with her love, she stoops upon the plain, With such kind passion hastes the prince to fight, As in a drought the thirsty creatures cry, And first the martlet meets it in the sky, And with wet wings joys all the feather'd train : |